Fablehaven: The Complete Series (251 page)

“They searched the car both times,” Doren said. “It was easy to prick them with one of the darts Vanessa left us. They went to sleep, we put them back in their car, and no trouble ever caught up with us.”

“I’m sure other officers responded when they stopped calling in,” Trask said. “But they probably dismissed the report of a truck driven by goats as a hallucination.”

“Vanessa had five spare sets of plates with corresponding registrations,” Newel explained. “We swapped them after any trouble.”

Trask chuckled. “That may have helped as well. We did some speeding to get here ourselves, but had better luck with speed traps.”

Kendra regarded the satyrs. “You guys are really going to come to Zzyzx with us?”

“We’ve come this far,” Doren said.

“Seth promised us our own flat-screen TV with a generator,” Newel explained. “Besides, having front-row seats to the end of the world beats waiting for the disaster back at Fablehaven with the centaurs in charge.”

“Seth told me about the centaurs,” Kendra said.

“There will be a reckoning if we can survive the demons,” Trask vowed.

“We have a chance,” Doren said. “Seth has Vasilis. There are poems and songs about that sword.”

“Not to mention a unicorn on our side!” Newel exclaimed. “They are the superheroes of the fairy world. They’re not very outgoing, but when they decide to help, it can make all the difference.”

“Don’t join us buoyed by false expectations,” Trask said. “Consider the enemy. We’re talking about Gorgrog and his horde. We almost certainly will not be coming back.”

“We get it,” Newel said cheerfully. “If it’s the end, so it goes. We had a good run. But can’t we hope for the best?”

Trask shrugged. “I suppose we can hope.”

* * *

Above the red brick base, visible in the cloud-muted moonlight, white and black stripes spiraled to the top of the lighthouse, making it look like a giant barbershop pole. Vanessa led Seth to the door at the base and opened it quickly. He followed her inside.

They climbed the curving stairs, a small flashlight helping them see. Roughly thirty at a time, the stairs ascended to semicircular landings. Periodic windows granted higher and higher views. By the time they reached the top, Seth was panting.

An observation platform surrounded the top of the lighthouse. Vanessa and Seth stepped outside. The gibbous moon came out from behind a cloud, throwing silver highlights on the corrugated ocean and the vegetated coastline. The salty breeze and great height made Seth feel like he was in the crow’s nest of some enormous ship.

“Is it time?” Seth asked.

“Close enough,” Vanessa replied, checking her watch.

Seth took out the handbell and removed the leather muffle from the clapper. He shook the bell over his head vigorously. The bell rang loudly, but nothing about it seemed supernatural. Seth clanged the bell constantly until Vanessa told him to stop. Then he stepped forward to the railing and looked down.

Far below, Bracken flashed a light at him. After muffling the clapper, Seth tossed the bell over the edge. As planned, Bracken and Warren would now run the bell to the former site of the lighthouse and ring it again. Hopefully, ringing the bell at both locations, they could be more sure the ship would respond as desired.

Seth followed Vanessa down the long flights of steps and out of the lighthouse. She locked up, and they trotted back to where they had parked. Before they reached their vehicle, a huge humanoid shape came stomping toward them out of the darkness. After a brief fright, Seth recognized Hugo. He ran to the golem, who scooped him up in a rocky embrace.

“You made it!” Seth said.

“Drove fast,” Hugo replied.

“Did the truck arrive in one piece?” Vanessa wondered.

“Truck fine,” Hugo assured her.

Newel and Doren gamboled over to them. Hugo set Seth down.

“I can’t believe you guys made it,” Seth said. “I expected you’d take your time, running up the credit card at fast food joints.”

“Not a bad way to confront the end of civilization,” Newel conceded. “But after enough fast food, it starts to all taste the same.”

“Good, but greasy,” Doren said. “Besides, driving fast is another new pleasure we both enjoy.”

“We may not come back from this,” Seth said seriously.

“We know,” Newel said. “Everyone keeps warning us. If I didn’t know better, I’d suspect you guys were trying to ditch us. Here’s the thing—if we succeed, we don’t just save the world. We save television. We save fast food. We save soft drinks and doughnuts and candy bars and ice cream.”

“We save Frito-Lay,” Doren said solemnly.

“You’ve enjoyed a lifetime of these marvelous conveniences,” Newel accused. “You take them for granted. Doren and I are just getting introduced.”

“Nobody is going to mess with Hostess,” Doren said. “Not on my watch.”

“We’ll be honored to have you,” Seth said.

“Hugo could pose a problem,” Vanessa observed. “If the ship is sending just one launch to shuttle us aboard, the golem might swamp it.”

“I don’t want to go without Hugo,” Doren said. “Did you see him beat up those centaurs with his bare hands?”

“Do we need to hijack a watercraft?” Newel asked.

“You’ll have to be careful,” Vanessa said. “These waters are famously treacherous. This area is called the Graveyard of the Atlantic for a reason. The shifting shoals off this coast have claimed hundreds of ships.”

“Which explains the lighthouse,” Newel said. “We’ll figure it out. The golem should be able to discern your location. Come on, Hugo. We’d better hurry.”

“See you on the water,” Doren said.

The satyrs climbed into the truck, and Hugo settled into the back. Vanessa explained to Trask what the satyrs intended to do, and he agreed with the idea.

Kendra walked over to Seth. “How did it go?” she asked.

“I rang the bell. We’ll see if it works.”

“Want a pretzel?”

“I’m stuffed. I overdid it on the crab cakes.”

They stood in silence for a moment.

“Do you get the sense that this is our last adventure?” Kendra asked.

Seth rubbed the hilt of Vasilis. “Yeah. You too?”

She nodded. “It’s sort of obvious since we haven’t even prepared a way back. We couldn’t stop any of this when we had a chance. And we had lots of chances. The artifacts. The Eternals. Now we’re out of chances. I guess going to Zzyzx is better than nothing. It will be better to die bravely among friends than to die in hiding.”

“You don’t have to go,” Seth said.

“Neither do you.”

“I’m going. That was the whole point of getting Vasilis. If I’m going to die, I’ll die fighting demons, not running from them. It helps to imagine what Patton would do. It helps to think about Coulter.”

“I’m going too,” Kendra said. Her lip trembled. “I wish I could say good-bye to Mom and Dad.”

“Don’t think like that,” Seth said. “Think about winning. Think about protecting the world.”

His sister managed a faint smile. “I’ll try.”

When Bracken and Warren returned, everyone got into the SUV and the sedan and drove to the location marked on Patton’s map. After checking their gear, they walked down to the edge of the water and waited for the proper time to start blowing the whistle.

Seth noticed Bracken sitting down beside Kendra. He couldn’t resist casually eavesdropping.

“I’m sorry about Vanessa earlier,” Bracken said. “She was trying to lash out at me for embarrassing her.”

“Don’t worry,” Kendra said. “I get it.”

Bracken took Kendra’s hand, regarding her intently. “Vanessa wasn’t wrong.”

Seth knew it was time to stop listening. Thrusting his hands in his pockets, he strolled up the beach. He could not help dwelling upon what Kendra had said about this being their last adventure. Alone in the dark, he had to admit she was right. Vasilis was cool, and Hugo was tough, and Bracken probably had some tricks up his sleeve, but then he considered the raw power of Bahumat, pictured Olloch the Glutton tearing off Hugo’s arm, and recalled Graulas demolishing the house at Fablehaven. Demons were nightmarishly powerful, and Zzyzx held the worst of them in huge numbers.

What if Raxtus succeeded in getting Agad involved? A wizard could be useful. Especially if he brought some dragons. But supposedly the horde inside of Zzyzx was even more powerful than dragons.

“Strange time to roam this beach,” a conversational voice said behind Seth.

He whirled to see a grayish man with a bristly beard wearing a hooded slicker and sturdy boots. He had not heard the man approach. “I’m here with some friends.”

“So I noticed,” the man said, staring out to sea. “Word to the wise: This beach may be getting some unsavory visitors shortly.”

This was no ordinary man. When Seth stared hard, the stranger seemed slightly translucent. “I know,” Seth said. “I called them.”

“Sure you want to be doing that?”

“I need to get somewhere.”

The man turned his head and looked at Seth. “There are plenty of ways to get around.”

“Not where we’re going,” Seth explained. “We have to reach Shoreless Isle. Some demons are going to open Zzyzx.”

The man looked back out at the water. “Can’t say I know much about that. Sounds like you have your reasons. Watch yourself when negotiating passage. She can be un-reasonable.”

“You have any advice?” Seth asked.

The man looked at him again. “I don’t mean to intrude.”

“Please.”

“You have quite a sword there. Don’t forget it, if she gets temperamental. Some people only respect those who might do them harm. Myself, I would steer clear of the
Lady Luck
altogether.”

Bracken came jogging down the beach. Seth took a step toward him, waving him over. When Seth turned back, the gray man was gone. There was no place he could have hidden. Chills tingled across Seth’s shoulders.

“Did you see him?” Seth asked as Bracken came near.

“An apparition,” Bracken said. “He’s what brought me this way. Benevolent, by the feel of him. Some sort of guardian spirit.”

“He talked to me about the
Lady Luck,
” Seth said.

“I hope you listened,” Bracken said. “You all right?”

“Good enough. I saw you chatting with my sister.”

“Vanessa made things uncomfortable. Some words had to be exchanged.”

Seth grinned. They walked back to the others together. Once there, Seth kept his eyes on the water, hoping to see Hugo, Newel, and Doren show up in a stolen boat. The six of them sat in silence. Kendra leaned her head against Bracken’s shoulder. Trask and Vanessa dozed.

Eventually Bracken eased away from Kendra and nudged Seth. “Time for the bosun’s whistle.”

Seth removed the whistle from the case, stood, and gave three long calls. Two minutes later, he repeated the calls. And again two minutes later.

The moon went behind heavy clouds, dimming their view of the sea. Seth continued to toot the whistle every couple of minutes. When the moon came out again, a large rowboat was approaching, still some distance out.

The whistling had awakened Vanessa and Trask. Seth stowed the whistle, and everyone gathered their gear. The rowboat ran aground, and a pair of seamen splashed out into the water. Seth had seen zombies, and he had seen wraiths. These figures appeared to be somewhere in between. Not as dark or graceful as wraiths, they moved with much more agility and competence than zombies. Their brown, knotted flesh looked lean and tough.

After scanning the murky ocean a final time for any sign of Hugo or the satyrs, Seth waded into the cold water with the others, accepting help from an undead seaman to climb into the rowboat. A second pair of undead sailors awaited inside, manning the large oars. Once everyone was aboard, the pair of seamen on the beach pushed the boat back into the water, then scrambled inside.

The boat accommodated all of them comfortably, but would have barely fit the satyrs. Hugo would certainly have been too big. Seth consoled himself that they had not left Hugo behind needlessly.

The sailors at the oars managed the craft with efficient competence. If there were dangerous shoals nearby, Seth saw no sign of them. The rowboat progressed quickly away from the shore, bobbing up and down on the swells.

Seth listened carefully to the undead sailors, but, as with the Standing Dead, he detected no thoughts. He tried to start conversations mentally, but sensed no response.

The moon hid behind the clouds again. Rowing across the black, undulating water felt creepy. Everything was surreal: the rolling motion of the vessel, the salty tang in the air, the undead mariner sitting beside him, an oxidized ring dangling from his shriveled earlobe. Seth noticed that Bracken had an arm around Kendra.